The function of the Imaging Core is to test novel imaging approaches and image analysis algorithms,[unreadable] streamline these techniques for in vivo imaging of cortical plasticity, and supply the optimized protocols and[unreadable] software to the investigators in the Center. The approaches optimized by the Imaging Core will be used in[unreadable] Projects 1, 2 and 3 of the Center for multidisciplinary, comprehensive studies of the role of specific genes in[unreadable] anatomical cortical plasticity.[unreadable] The Core is a cost effective and efficient way of providing imaging and analysis techniques to investigators in[unreadable] the Center. Specifically, the Core will:[unreadable] 1. Screen novel transgenic mice for markers for in vivo imaging that label specific aspects of neural[unreadable] anatomy, such as specific inhibitory interneurons and laminar-specific pyramidal neurons.[unreadable] 2. Catalog which labeled lines are bright enough for in vivo imaging and how this brightness changes with[unreadable] development.[unreadable] 3. Catalog which labeled lines express in visual, barrel, and anterior cingulate cortices[unreadable] 4. Screen newly-advanced genetically-encoded markers of neuronal function (e.g. calcium indicators and[unreadable] voltage sensors) to determine which are suitable for in vivo imaging.[unreadable] 5. Develop novel image analysis tools to automate the quantification of axonal and dendritic structural[unreadable] plasticity (e.g. changes in branching, branch length, spine volume, spine and bouton density, spine kinetics).[unreadable] 6. Continually fine-tune the surgical preparation for live imaging of cortical neurons.[unreadable] By assigning these tasks to one facility, the Center gains an economy of scale in which the time devoted to[unreadable] working through these important issues is absorbed once by the Core. Thus, each lab in the Center is not[unreadable] individually burdened with the costs in time, people, and resources necessary to work through and optimize[unreadable] the imaging approaches necessary to accomplish the projects proposed by the Center. Additionally, the[unreadable] Core will insure that the imaging approach used by each laboratory is uniformly agreed upon by each of the[unreadable] members of the Center and is of the highest possible quality.[unreadable]